


you should see me in a crown

by Anonymous



Category: One Piece, Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Nico di Angelo, Book 3: The Titan's Curse (Percy Jackson), Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen, New World (One Piece), One Piece Spoilers, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre-Slash, big mom pirates - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:27:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26271859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Before Nico becomes the fearsome pirate, Ghost King, he's a kid surviving on the island of Dressrosa.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 29
Collections: Anonymous





	1. Grover

"Grover, perhaps you should take our young friend to the den and show him our orientation video," Chiron suggested.

"But…" Grover spotted the frown on Chiron's face. "Oh, right. Yes, sir." He trotted over to Nico di Angelo. He struggled to not make a face.

The kid was strong and he smelled like death.

"Orientation film?" Nico asked. "Is it G or PG? 'Cause Bianca is kinda strict—"

"It's PG13," Grover interrupted. He gestured toward the door.

"Cool!" Nico shouted, following him out of the room. (1)

Walking toward the Big House, Grover tried to keep space between him and Nico. Each time Nico veered too close, Grover felt ice drip down his spine. It was not unlike two years ago when he took a journey down to the Underworld with Annabeth and Percy. To think, he had once been so irritated when Dr. Thorn kept him away from Nico and his sister while they were at Westover. The distance had made Grover antsy. He saw many demigods killed by monsters, but looking back on it, the separation might have been a blessing in disguise. There was no way he could have lasted from Westover Academy in D.C. to Camp Half-Blood with the heebie-jeebies inspired by Nico, and possibly, his now gorgeous sister. As a keeper and protector of all demigods, Grover felt awful for thinking this. He had to be better.

"Are you scared?" Nico asked.

"Scared?"

"Yeah!" Nico pointed at his tail, flicking back and forth. "One time, someone smuggled in a cat at Westover. She was small and black. Whenever I tried to get near her, her tail would be just like yours and she'd hiss and scratch at me. It made me sad because I like animals, but animals don't like me. I've always wanted a dog. Bianca says one day, but that just means no ."

"Oh," Grover said. "Um, I'm not scared. Just hungry."

"I'm hungry too. When do we get to eat?"

"Later," Grover said. "The orientation video is long enough that it should carry us right into dinner and the campfire song."

"We have to sing? I don't know any songs. Well, I know the Justin Timberlake song, I'm bringing sexy back and them other boys don't know how to act, I think its special what's behind your back, yeah—" (2)

"You're definitely not one of Apollo's rays of sunshine," Grover muttered to himself. "No one knows the songs when they start, but you'll learn soon enough. Don't worry."

Grover led them through the Camp. When it was winter, it always made him a little sadder. The Camp was nearly empty. Most of the campers worked hard during the summers to learn how to protect themselves and their families from monsters, then went back to their lives as soon as the school year rolled around. He saw some familiar faces like Solace, Miranda and Katie, the Stolls — it pained him to not see Annabeth among the crowd.

Nico whistled, "That's a big house."

He and Nico stood back to take in the enormity of the Big House. It was four stories high and freshly painted in baby blue and white trim. A few weeks ago, the Stoll Brothers with the help of Charlie had decorated the house with thousands of little bulb lights for the holiday. Nico scrambled up the porch. He rose on the tip of his toes and played with the silver wind chimes. Then, sat on each of the lounge chairs as if he were Goldilocks and decided none of the chairs quite fit.

"Don't!" Grover shook his head as Nico startled and backed away from the card table. He twisted his head around to see if anyone was looking. "Mr. D is very serious about his pinocle and board. If he finds out, he might curse you mad."

"I knew he was super strong!" Nico nodded at the card table with the appropriate reverence, his hands twitched as he drew them back. "I hope my Dad has cool powers like that. When will I know?"

Grover held the front door for Nico. Nico went right in. "I don't know," Grover said truthfully. "The Gods and Goddesses have a lot to do and they're forgetful. Sometimes they don't claim their kid."

Nico's face crumpled. The kid had the most cherubic face, there was some fat stubbornly clinging to his cheeks and his brown eyes were big and dark and they glittered with infectious enthusiasm. Grover's heart squeezed, he wasn't a monster. "I said, sometimes, right? They've been, um, real good lately." Grover laughed.

Crisis averted, Nico bounced back quickly as he zoomed up the wooden stairs to the right. He stopped just short three steps from the top. He leaned close to the right, his dark eyebrows rose and his lips widened in an O. ``Pirates," Nico breathed as he stared at the portraits lined on the wall. "Pirates are my favorite."

Grover paused on the steps.

"Did you know the Vikings were some of the first pirates," Nico breathed. "They were the best sailors and fighters in the world. Were the Vikings half-bloods-?"

"Well, I know a few elves—"

"Was Blackbeard a half-blood? How about Anne Bonny, or François l' Ollonais, or Leif Erikson," Nico questioned growing more excited by the minute. "Dr. Thorn took us to a nickelodeon and I saw Pirates of the Caribbean! Bianca said I could be Captain Jack Sparrow for Halloween. My favorite pirate is —"

"Some half-bloods are pirates and Vikings," Grover sighed. "There's a long history. If we can get through the movie quietly, I'll show you the attic where we put all the pirate gear and everything else from the seventeenth century." Putting a gentle, but firm hand on the boy's shoulder Grover pushed through his heebie-jeebies and steered Nico toward the movie room, mentally scrolling through the list of gods and goddesses in his head. Nico might be the child of god blabbermouth. Grover wished he was back at Cabin 8 with the girls. Why couldn't he show Nico _and_ Bianca the orientation film? He sighed again.

Nico mimed zipping his lips.

The movie room was the smallest and coziest room in the Big House. It was filled with large, expensive bean bag chairs and loveseats that had been approved by the children of Hypnos. As one of the only places with modern technology, it was regularly claimed by campers that wanted date night. Grover made a face as he played with the DVD player and _Spirited Away_ came out. "Alrighty. It'll be up in a sec. Take a seat anywhere."

Nico plopped down in a worn blue couch. He was eaten by the fluff. "The movie's in black and white?" he said when Grover pulled up the title card. "I don't see much of those these days."

"Yeah. This thing is even older than me." Grover snorted.

It was a typical hygiene film from an era by-gone. A young, debonair man by the name of Rod Serling appeared on the screen. His smile pulled to the right just the same as Travis, Connor, and Luke. Grover dropped his eyes.

"The door has been opened to you by a key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension: a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into… Camp Half-Blood. (3) You're a half-blood. A half-blood is someone of half-god and half-human descent. We've been around for ages from Chuck Berry to Aristotle…"

To Nico's credit, he lasted all the way through the explanation of the twelve Olympians and the eleven cabins. He started to squirm in the bean bag. Grover watched him wondering if he would choose to pee his pants or ask for the bathroom. Grover made the choice for him. "Go. It's down the hall to the left." Nico hesitated. Grover bleated, "I don't need to go with you, do I? You're a big kid."

"I'm a big kid," Nico echoed. He scurried out of the room.

For the first time in what felt like an eternity, Grover knew silence. So much had happened in a short period of time. When he started this afternoon, waving at Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia he thought this situation was going right for once. Two, powerful half-blood siblings had been found alive. It was rare. The last time that happened were the Stoll brothers with Keeper Hedge. Unlike Keeper Hedge's extraction mission, his mission had gone downhill so fast. Grover wished he had some aluminum cans to chew on.

Tapping on the couch, Grover waited for twenty minutes. Sometimes, a guy needed some privacy. Thirty minutes passed. An hour. Grover shook his head. He went to the bathroom. Predictably, he knocked on the stalls. No answer. "I'm coming in!" he warned, hoping that Nico would say something.

Grover opened the door, half-expecting to see an embarrassed ten-year-old parked on the porcelain throne with a lack of toilet paper. It happened to the best of them. Instead, he saw a stall, boy-free.

Grover was a dead satyr.

"Ok, G-man, where do you think Nico went?"

There were a lot of rooms in the Big House. Like a lot a lot. Grover considered the panic-inducing idea that Nico might be in hundreds of locations and he would have to search the hundreds of locations before they were all supposed to meet up for dinner. Most of the rooms were locked and abandoned. Nico spoke a lot, but he hadn't carried the air of mischief like the Hermes kids. Grover made a frustrated sound. He really, really wished he had some aluminum cans right now, or a bit of enchilada.

Leaving the bathroom, he poked his head into the movie room just to make sure Nico hadn't teleported himself there. He had not. "When I lose something, Annabeth always says its best to retrace my steps. Right. Retrace my steps. That's easy. We came from downstairs. Downstairs, downstairs."

Grover rushed downstairs. Stopping, he nearly tripped as he pinwheeled and stared wide-eyed at the wall. "Pirates. Nico's in the attic. Nico's definitely in the attic."

That was worth a curse.

Faster than the Nike children, Grover cleared four flights of stairs to the attic. The acid green trap door had been pulled up to reveal a yawning mouth of utter black. Grover shuddered and inhaled a lungful of air. It wasn't as bad as death — the smell of rot and the cold scent of snakes — but ice dripped down his spine the same as before.

The wooden stairs creaked under him as he climbed.

"Nico," Grover called out. "I know you're up here. We've got the last bit of the movie to watch. We can come right back…"

Grover was rarely in the attic. It was high up and it was dark and there weren't any plants. Basically, a satyr's worst nightmare. Also, there was a dead oracle in the attic. Purposefully, Grover stayed away from the lone window in the attic following a scent of death that was more subtle.

There was a bunch of junk in the attic. It had been collected over eons. A bit of everything was in there. From armor and swords to the more grimy, like old monster parts that had pickled. He shivered when he spotted one of Arachne's egg sacks just laying in the corner. Grover hoped Nico hadn't been caught up in anything like walking into the right side of the sword, or worse.

"Where are you hiding, Nico? I can't really see in here."

Grover remained still. He cupped his ears and screwed his eyes shut.

"Nothing."

A big load of nothing. The attic felt cold and there was no one alive in here other than him. Panic began anew in him, he followed Nico's scent. It was fresh and the strongest in here. Eventually, he came to a chest made of rotting wood and rusted metal. It was covered in inches of dust, but newly opened.

He peered in it and pulled out a fruit. He held the fruit. The only thing normal about it was its shape: it was shaped like an apple, but colored black and covered in a kaleidoscope of colors. The fruit's skin reminded him of the eyes of those born from Aphrodite, or pictures of the blackness of space and its millions of galaxies. The fruit had also been half-eaten.

Had Nico taken a bite? Grover chanced a whiff of the fruit — it didn't smell rotten despite its psychedelic appearance— there was not a body around, so, Nico hadn't been poisoned or hurt.

That was one positive in an otherwise sucky situation.

Grover triple-checked the attic and faced facts. Nico wasn't there.

Dinner was in full swing by the time Grover made it to the pavilion. His stomach growled when he smelled barbecue, pizza, and his favorite metal goblets dipped in cola. The offerings had been made and the cabins had already been seated. Normally, Grover relaxed under the welcoming heat of the braziers and torches.

Grover approached table twelve where most everyone that wasn't mortal sat. Mr. D was gone and Castor and Pollux sat there along with the Naiads, Satyrs, and even Chiron stood close.

"Grover," Chiron greeted warmly. "Thank you for looking after Nico. Sorry to have rushed you, there were important matters to discuss and I didn't want to overwhelm the boy."

Dipping his head, Grover nodded wordlessly. The strange fruit hung in his right hand. His eyes stung.

"Where is he?" Chiron asked.

"I don't know," Grover sniffed.

The air seemed to get colder. "I misheard you," Chiron said.

"I don't know where Nico di Angelo has gone," Grover said. "We went to the Big House to watch the movie, and, and, he said he had to go to the bathroom, I'm so stupid, I let him go—" he cried. "I followed his scent to the attic and I found, I found." He held up the fruit unable to finish his sentence.

Chiron's bushy eyebrows knit. "If he took a bite of that fruit, Mr. Underwood; Nico… "

Percy wrapped an arm around his shoulders as Bianca came forward.

"What's wrong?" Percy asked.

"Where's Nico?" Bianca asked. "He can be a handful, but he listened to you, right? If he didn't you can tell me, I'll set him straight. I don't see him. Did he have to pee? Where is he?"

Grover kept his head down. He shook his head.

"Where's my brother?" Bianca repeated. She went up to him and grabbed his shirt and jerked him forward. "Out with it, goat-boy," Bianca said. "Where's my little brother?"

"Hey!" Percy slipped into the space between him and Bianca. "Only I call him that. It's a little rich that now you decide to care for your brother when you've just abandoned him to join the world's worst girl-band."

Bianca pushed Percy aside as if she hadn't heard him. While there had been some hesitance on Grover's part to attribute Nico's eyes to the God of the Underworld, there was no mistaking it with his sister. Her dark eyes glittered like the depths of the Underworld and her face screwed fearsome. He witnessed Percy and Thalia's angry faces before; Bianca's was the worst.

"Where's Nico?" she asked calmly. Her fingers trembled.

"I don't know. He's not here."

"No." Bianca shook her head. "No. I agreed to join Lady Artemis knowing that Nico would be safe here."

The ground rumbled beneath him. The campers looked down at their feet. Bianca drew back. "He can't be gone. I promised Mammina. She said, look after Nico until she came back. I promised."

Grover couldn't stay on his feet, it sounded like a plane was falling from the sky or a train was coming out of nowhere. The ground underneath them rocked.

Bianca was the only one that stood on her feet.

"I promised," Bianca insisted. "I took care of Nico. So, he can't be gone, he can't."

"I'm sorry," Grover cried.

Bianca screamed and the temperature dropped around them until icicles clung onto the grass and tables, and the earth was torn asunder with flames and lava spewing out. Monsters that had been slain burst from the forests, demigods that had died long ago ripped from the ground and walked groggily among them. There were dead demigods with blades and weapons. Those ones started to fight, they sliced anyone that crossed their paths.

Screams filled the air.

It was a nightmare. The empathy link forged between him and Percy told Grover that Percy was as scared as him, but Percy still pushed to his feet, a glowing Riptide in his hand. Thalia appeared at Percy's side, with her spear and terrible gorgon shield. The hairs stood up on Grover, and he smelled ozone in the air. Their eyes were pinned on Bianca like she was a monster.

"Enough!" Chiron shouted as powerful as Grover had ever heard him. He stomped his front hooves hard and placed a staying hand on Bianca though it looked like it pained him to do so.

Chiron leaned down and whispered into Bianca's ear. What he said, Grover wasn't sure, but as soon as the nightmare began it ended and the skeletons dropped into piles of ash. Bianca seemingly lost her silvery glow, her arms cradled herself.

She sobbed.

"Cabin leaders, lead your campers back to your cabins," Chiron ordered firm enough that not even Clarisse or the Hunters dared to go against him. "The Dryads will make rounds and pass out dinner. Dismissed."

Naturally, the rules didn't apply to Percy and Thalia. Their weapons were lowered but they still eyed Bianca like a ticking time bomb. Grover didn't blame them.

"I have some bittersweet news," Chiron said gravely.

"Hades doesn't have to go onto Maury," Percy said, "Cause, uh— he definitely is the father of Bianca, and I'm guessing Nico too."

"Yes," Chiron said.

Grover chanced a look at Thalia. He noticed she never really stopped staring at Bianca, but this was a different stare altogether. A little kinder and sad by his measure.

"The Pact is broken." Chiron nodded. "That is information that will be re-visited, but what I have is much more pertinent and is related to young Nico's disappearance. The fruit, Grover." Chiron held one large palm out.

Gingerly, Grover placed the half eaten fruit in Chiron's hand. It held an alluring luster like the very same apple that Eris threw to start the Trojan War.

"This is a devil fruit," Chiron said.

"I've never heard of a devil fruit," Percy protested.

Thalia scowled at him. "I'm surprised you've heard of _any_ fruit, Seaweed Brain."

"What was that, Pinecone Face?" Percy's ears flushed red.

"What's a devil fruit—" Bianca's soft voice broke the argument between Percy and Thalia. Her eyes were red-rimmed as she looked at the fruit. "— and what does it have to do with Nico?"

"A devil fruit is a strange rare food that used to be in abundance eons ago," Chiron said. "Before the Iron Age. With the Bronze and Heroic Age, these fruits gave humans strange powers that made them god-like."

"What ages? I thought we came from the sea. We were monkeys for a bit, then we were humans, and then, we broke out into little tribes and formed civilizations," Percy said. "Like, Pokemon."

Grover bleated and shook his head. Half-bloods were pretty odd. They came from the mortal world surrounded by all that mist and teachings. It was hard sometimes to have their mortal teachings coexist with their world.

"There's a place for biology and evolution, Percy," Chiron said. "I remember teaching Darwin about wildlife. Many mistake him for a child of Athena when in truth, he was a child of Demeter. It's all about interpretation. The ages you described, the history of humans versus the Bronze and Heroic Age, those ages are built out of human dreams and interpretations about what happened in eras passed. It's all ancient history passed down."

"Oh-okay," Percy said.

It had made zero sense to him. Grover shook his head.

"If memory serves correct, this particular fruit is called the Portal Portal fruit and gives the user the ability to travel between worlds and times," Chiron explained.

"Cool!" Percy said. Thalia jostled him roughly and Percy glanced wide-eyed at Bianca. "I mean—it's not cool— it's so, so uncool—sorry."

Again Bianca paid no attention to him. "If I eat that fruit, can I go where Nico went? I can bring him back."

Grover perked.

"I'm afraid not," Chiron said. "The first person who eats the devil fruit gets its power until they die. The fruit is now useless."

"Nico's in another world and I can't bring him back." Bianca shook her head.

She turned around and fled. Thalia was quick to follow after her.

Grover's tears were renewed. This was all his fault. His keeper's title and hunter license should be revoked if he couldn't look after one child within the borders of the camp. There was no hope of him finding Pan.

Once more, Percy wrapped an arm around him.

"Is Nico really gone for good?" Percy asked softly.

Chiron sighed, his hooves stomped agitatedly on the ground. "There is no way we can get to young Nico, but this fruit has imbued him with a power. There is a slim chance that Nico may come back to us when he has conquered this power and learned to use it for himself. Wherever he is, I pray to the Gods that he isn't near water."

"Why?" Percy asked.

"Devil fruit users can't swim."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: OCT 13TH, 2020:
> 
> Timeline! 
> 
> Dec 10th, 1922: Bianca is born. (her birthday and year are not canon, i just took a wild guess)
> 
> January 28th, 1924: Nico is born.
> 
> Dec 2006: Nico disappears into the past, the One Piece World. At this point, he is ten years old and Bianca is twelve.
> 
> Where I got this badass, ONE PIECE awesome timeline?: https://thelibraryofohara.com/2018/05/14/one-piece-timeline/
> 
> ?: Donquixote Family rules Dressrosa. They become rulers and "Era of Slavery" begins for the Tontatta Family.
> 
> 700: Riku I apologizes to the Tontatta: Chapter 261, it is mentioned King Riku I ascended to the thronen800 years ago
> 
> April 3rd, 1434: Brook is born.
> 
> Oct 23rd, 1483: Donquxiote Doflamingo is born.
> 
> March 9th, 1488: Cutty Flam "Franky" is born.
> 
> February 3rd, 1495: Nico Robin is born.
> 
> 1495: Kyros wins a hundred battles at the Colosseum.
> 
> 1500: Sept - Gol D. Roger is executed by the World Government
> 
> 1500: GREAT AGE OF THE PIRATES BEGINS
> 
> Jan 1st, 1502: Gol D. Ace is born on Baterilla, South Blue
> 
> March 2nd, 1503: Vinsmokes are born. Sanji is born in Germa Kingdom.
> 
> November 11th, 1503: Zoro is born.
> 
> Jan 28th, 1504: Nico would be born on this year if he were from the OP world.
> 
> July 3rd, 1504: Nami is born.
> 
> Kyros wins his 3000th battle. Kyros has been in the Colosseum for nine years
> 
> April 1st, 1505: Usopp is born.
> 
> May 5th, 1505: Monkey D. Luffy is born.
> 
> 1507: A thirteen-year-old Rob Lucci who kills born pirate and hostages. He is shot on the back with cannoballs, leaving a large scar resembling the World Government sign.
> 
> 1507: Rosinante infiltrates the Donquixote Pirates
> 
> June 23rd, 1508: Charlotte Pudding is born.
> 
> August 4th, 1508: Rebecca is born to Scarlett and Kyros on Dressrosa
> 
> August 11th, 1508: half-fishman Dellinger is born and he is adopted by the Donquxiote Family
> 
> December 24th, 1508: Chopper is born.
> 
> 1508: Law joins the Donquixote Pirates, he estimates he has 2 to 3 years left of life.
> 
> 1511: Rosinante is shot to death by Doflamingo, but Law escapes (this is the time he eats the devil fruit).
> 
> 1514: Doflamingo's Dressrosa operation begins. He raids ships containing heavenly tribute for the tenryuubito, blackmails the government into making him a shickibukai.
> 
> Doflamingo blackmails King Riku. He frames the King as a greedy and presents himself and the Doflamingo Pirates/Pirates as the heroes rescuing the Dressrosa citizens from the tyranny of the noble Riku Family.
> 
> Diamante kills Rebecca's mother, Scarlett.
> 
> Kyros attempts to fight Doflamingo, but Doflamingo cuts off his leg, and he is turned into the first toy. Due to Sugar's devil fruit power, everyone forgets of his existence, however, he continues to take care of Rebecca as Toy Soldier even if she isn't aware that he is her father.
> 
> Doflamingo establishes an underground empire by transforming toys into slaves, working in an underground smuggling factory.
> 
> December 1515: Nico lands here on Dressora, nearly a year after Dressrosa has been taken over by Doflamingo. At this point, Nico is ten and Rebecca is seven.
> 
> (1) Rick Riordan, Titan's Curse, pg 40 (Google Drive Version)
> 
> (2) Justin Timberlake, SexyBack, 2006
> 
> (3) Rod Serling, Twilight Zone Opening


	2. Nico

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico is in a strange place called Dress Robes ruled by a king flamingo.

Nico drowned.

Nico reached out in the icy depths unable to summon the strength to push his legs and arms forward. Absolute terror engulfed him. _Bianca, help_!

He was filled with water.

Black edged Nico's vision. Distantly, his ears rang. He recognized it as the knell of his own death. Small bubbles rose as he descended.

If drowning wasn't already on his list of the suckiest things to currently happen to him, Nico spotted a dark shadow in the water zipping toward him. His eyes widened when he saw a mouthful of large, razor-sharp teeth, and beady bloodthirsty eyes glossed over in terrifying ebony.

A shark!

It lunged toward him.

More air bubbles escaped Nico. There was nowhere to dodge. He crossed his arms in front of him. _No! Please don't eat me_! he thought frantically just as the shark sank its powerful teeth into his left side.

Pain, unbelievable pain coursed through him. Nico let out a soundless scream. More water rushed inside of him filling him until there was nothing but seawater and pain. The awful ringing in his ears grew louder. He wanted to escape and go where there was no more pain.

Nico knew only darkness, and then nothing.

Nothing didn't last long.

In what felt like the next moment, Nico inhaled once and shot up. He twisted in half circles to the left and right, expecting to be adrift in the sea and to see his sister's scowling face and her dark wet curls clinging to her forehead. Instead, he was greeted to the sight of a kid. They were a boy or girl, he wasn't too sure, with long blond hair and two ivory, bull horns curving out the sides of their head, they wore small pink hoop earrings(1). If that wasn't strange enough, their mouth was wide open in what looked like a permanent state of surprise. Nico saw two rows of triangle teeth stained in red. A trail of ruby dripped down their lips drizzling onto their shirt and pink shorts.

Nico swallowed. He looked down. Part of his shirt and aviator jacket were torn away. Blood gushed from his wound. Gently, he reached down and touched. He winced at the needles of pain pushing through his skin as he traced over each bleeding crescent indentation. He wasn't missing his entire left side so he was grateful for the small miracles.

"You bit me!" Nico accused. He knit his brow. "That's disgusting and rude! Were you raised by wolves?"

"I'm half-fishman and you made a big splash," they said with a dismissive shrug. "How'd you do that thing with the shadows? We were in the ocean. Now, we're on land. _How did you do that_? Giolla says devil fruit users can't use the powers underwater. They're despised by the sea."

"I don't have any powers. At least, I don't think I have any powers," Nico said. He hadn't been claimed yet. Grover said it would be soon. "What's a fishman? That wasn't in the orientation video."

The blond kid wiped their mouth with the back of their hand. They stood up. Nico raised an eyebrow when he saw their pink mary janes. "I think I better take you to Doflamingo."

Nico blinked and he was still. He realized two things.

He was alone and this was not an attic.

Before being bitten, before the darkness, before the drowning, he had been in an attic and he saw a real treasure chest. Inside the treasure chest, there had been a single fruit and he had taken a bite because he was curious and hungry.

"Bianca isn't going to be happy if I meet a flamingo without her permission."

The kid giggled in a high-pitched fashion. Nico managed a trembling smile of his own.

He tried to get to his feet and he quickly discovered that was a terrible idea. At this moment, his limbs weighed two tons each. There was no moving.

"We have to go now. I can't miss dinnertime with the Family. Baby Five is planning to kill Doffy because he killed her fourth boyfriend. I don't understand why she keeps getting boyfriends. She has to know Doffy is just going to kill them. She's so stupid sometimes. "

"Some other time," Nico tried. "I have to meet my sister and Grover. They're waiting for me right now. Please." He wasn't able to run the other direction, but he could scoot. He scooted his boot back. His hands and feet made little depressions on the ground.

"It won't be bad. I think you'll have a real chance to join the Family, unlike the others. It's so funny." The kid covered their mouth with their hand, though it did little good. Nico saw their lips still curled up in a cruel smile. "Doffy doesn't like any of them, especially the new one—Bellamy."

"I can't," Nico rejected. "I already have a family."

The blond just laughed and shot in front of him with a murderous gleam in their eyes. Yelping, Nico flinched back and fell to the soft ground. Sand, he recognized.

"Go away!" Nico shouted. "I don't want to see your homicidal flamingo or Baby Five! I don't want to join your family of villains! You all sound like you belong in an asylum."

Nico wasn't entirely sure if that was a fair assumption to make, but it felt good to say. With his shout, the ground underneath them shook. The blond paused for a split second. Nico read confusion in their dark eyes.

"Did you do that?" they asked. "I thought only Whitebeard…" he trailed off. "I can't let you slip through my fingers. If I turn you in, Doffy will let me fight in the Colosseum."

They reached to grab him and Nico squeezed his eyes shut.

"Leave him alone!"

Nico opened his eyes to see a toy soldier come out of nowhere and slam headfirst into the blond kid.

The blond kid was knocked sideways. They got up quickly. Their black eyes turned a ruby red. "A Toy!" he hissed. "Sugar says no toy can harm a human and they must obey the Family! I command you to stop!"

In front of Nico, there was a toy soldier about the same height as Nico while sitting on his bottom. The toy soldier wore a large, glossy top hat like Abraham Lincoln and held a long white-painted bayonet in his hands. Nico wanted to touch the giant yellow windup on its back.

"Um." Nico looked between the half-fishman and toy soldier. "What."

"Sit tight," the Toy Soldier said and Nico's eyes nearly popped out his sockets. "You can talk!"

"Of course," Toy Soldier said, his mouth opened and his blue painted eyes did not blink. "I heard your cry of help and I came to save you. I should have known it would come from someone being harassed by the Donquixote Family. It is unfortunate, my opponent is so young."

"You'll pay for that!" the blonde kid growled. They lifted their leg to point their heel at the Toy Soldier. "I'll smash your wooden head in!" They darted forward.

Toy Soldier met them in the middle.

Surprise quickly turned into awe. In two short moves, Toy Soldier used his bayonet and sent the kid flying through the air into a crumpled heap. Nico winced in sympathy when he saw the kid in a sad, unmoving pile just a few feet away from him.

"Don't worry about the young fishman," Toy Soldier said as he put a cold wooden hand on Nico's shoulder, "I only knocked him out, but he'll wake up soon and go running to his family. We have to go now. I can't fight them and protect you at the same time. "

"He?" Nico asked. "They were a he?"

Toy Soldier opened his mouth and his eyes seemed to widen. "Dellinger is part fishman though I can't be certain of the gender expression Dellinger feels most comfortable with. At any rate, we must go."

Nico nodded, then flushed red. "I can't stand up."

Toy Soldier slipped his bayonet on his back and Nico was gently scooped up off the ground.

"Whoa—hey!" Nico said, flushing further. "You're just a toy. How can you be this strong?"

"You're bleeding." Toy Soldier paid no attention to his surprise, instead he was held closer. "Don't move so much."

Nico listened. Arguing took energy. Nico had only enough energy to not fall asleep in the Toy Soldier's cold arms. He conserved the last bit of energy for the essentials like breathing and not freaking out. The freakout would come later. So, he settled down for the ride.

The ride wasn't the smoothest.

"What happened to your other leg?" Nico asked.

Almost immediately he regretted the question. If Bianca were here, he knew she would have jabbed him in the ribs for being so rude.

Toy Soldier hopped up and down on a yellow-brick road. For a whole minute, Nico accepted that Toy Soldier didn't want to answer the question.

"I failed to protect those I loved." Toy Soldier's deep voice cracked. He sounded like he was on the edge of tears.

Nico kept his mouth shut after that. It was a solid hour of mildly uncomfortable hopping. The scenery changed from the beaches to the green hills and acres of tall sunflowers, and then, a brightly colored town. In the far distance, he noticed a tall stone column. If he squinted hard he saw a visage of a tiny building atop the tall column. Toy Soldier didn't bring him into the center of the town where Nico glimpsed at the people and toys coexisting. He and Toy Soldier kept to the edges of the town twisting into back alleys where the bright colors of the buildings were exchanged for somber greys and blacks.

If this were anyone else Nico might have been scared, but he felt an implicit trust for the Toy Soldier that saved him from the fishman kid.

Toy Soldier brought him to an area that looked half-burnt and mostly empty. There were a few children covered in dirt playing with a ball fashioned out of old rags and twine. They blinked curiously at them but otherwise were focused on their game. Toy Soldier brought him to a small coral colored house. In a feat of strength, Toy Soldier passed him to one arm and opened the door with the other.

"Rebecca, get the whiskey and bring out some rags," Toy Soldier said sternly as he entered the home.

A pink-haired girl, younger than Nico, but around the same age as Dellinger pushed back her wooden chair and jumped down. She ran to them, and then, braked. Her pink eyebrows rose and her kind brown eyes glanced between him and Toy Soldier.

Nico waved awkwardly. "I'm Nico."

"You look like death." Rebecca turned around and hurried to do as she was bid.

That stung. However, it wasn't the first time someone attributed death to him. Bianca told him he slept like the dead too.

Toy Soldier placed him on the bed and Nico hissed as the roughspun covers brushed against his skin. Toy Soldier flushed red and bent in an awkward way, clapping his hands. "Don't focus on the pain. Focus on me!" Toy Soldier bent this way and that. "Toys are supposed to make children happy not sad."

Nico laughed.

"Oh! Oh! Oh! Am I funny?"

Nico nodded at Toy Soldier with a bright grin. To Nico, Toy Soldier was the embodiment of Dad Jokes. Not funny, but he made Nico forget about the tension all the same with his cringey behavior.

Nico watched Toy Soldier bend himself into all types of shapes that would make the world's best gymnast jealous. Rebecca came over with a large jug and multicolored clothes under her arm. Suddenly, all the humor in Nico spilled out. Toy Soldier gestured to the whiskey bottle and left Rebecca to hold the towels.

Rebecca put the towels on the edge of the bed. She helped him undress. There was some blushing involved on Nico's part because a girl that wasn't his sister was touching him and looking at him in a state of undress. Well, it was close to a state of undress, if his arms weren't so heavy he would have crossed them over his chest. Rebecca stood aside and let Toy Soldier take her position. The whiskey bottle in Toy Soldier's hand was thrust in front of him.

Nico swallowed.

"It's going to sting," Toy Soldier warned as he uncorked the bottle. "Be brave."

Wait. What was going to sting?

Then, a bright burning. Nico seized and howled as Toy Soldier poured the brown liquid all over the bite. The sound of his heart was loud in Nico's ears, he gnashed his teeth and he curled his fingers into fists as Toy Soldier kept pouring and pouring for what felt like an eternity.

Finally, Toy Soldier pulled back and Nico was left with fire in his veins.

"I'm going to wipe it clean now," Rebecca said.

As soft as her voice, Rebecca wiped his side down in small sections. It didn't soothe the fire swirling inside of him, but it did calm him down until Nico laid back down on the bed. He reached up and touched the sweat on his brow. "All clean."

"I apologize for putting you through that, Nico," Toy Soldier said as he took his turn inspecting the bite, "but I have known a great many warriors die from a little cut if it wasn't cleaned. I think you'll survive. Good job!"

Nico nodded. He understood, but he wasn't quite ready to accept the apology. It still hurt. At least, Toy Soldier and Rebecca didn't mention anything about stitches.

"Do you need help with dinner?" Toy Soldier turned to Rebecca. He placed a hand on her elbow and Rebecca shook her head.

"All right. I'll change the sheets now before I go." Toy Soldier nodded. He set his bayonet down on the wooden bedpost.

Go where? Nico wondered what Toy Soldier meant by that, but he wasn't about to open his mouth and ask more rude questions. "I'm sorry to bring Nico here without any notification. We'll sort him out tomorrow if you're fine with him staying the night."

Rebecca nodded. "I'm glad to have someone. It won't be so lonely when Toy Soldier leaves."

Toy Soldier bent his head. "Rebecca," he sighed, then perked. "Toys are supposed to make children happy. I shall try to make you two very happy before I leave."

On his one leg, Toy Soldier made several circles and bowed. Nico and Rebecca shared a single glance before they burst into a round of applause.

"Toy Soldier is lucky I did the laundry today," Rebecca playfully chided.

Nico was moved to the small table in the middle of the room. Far from complaining, he was happy to observe Toy Soldier and Rebecca work together. They were a dynamic team. It was clear the two were extremely comfortable together. Nico wondered what their relationship was. Perhaps, Toy Soldier had been given to Rebecca by a parent.

Nico blinked. He had yet to meet an adult. He saw them as Toy Soldier zipped past the bustling city center, but was there no older adult in this home that took responsibility? Toy Soldier acted sort of like a parent to him, and even more so toward Rebecca, but he was certain that Rebecca was human. Where were Rebecca's parents?

That was a question Nico knew not to ask. In Westover, that was the question that always annoyed him the most. Most of the kids in Westover had parents in the military or parents in higher up government positions. Sure, the kids there didn't see their parents often, but their parents sent them letters and presents on their birthdays, called them on the phone, visited on special weekends or dances. It was quickly known that he and Bianca didn't have that. They were the orphans of Westover Academy only there as a charity case. Never mind that they weren't actually orphans. He and his sister had a father. Sure, their father was an absent father (who was actually a god), but Nico didn't argue with the mean kids at Westover over that point. He preferred being an orphan over a bastard.

"It's sundown," Rebecca said. She pointed to the only window in the tiny house. It was sundown. Nico was a little surprised by how quickly time passed.

"It is. I have to go." Toy Soldier smoothed the nonexistent creases out of the bedspread and fluffed the pillows once more. He hopped to the door. "We will talk early tomorrow morning before I go to work, Nico. We'll see if we can get you to your parents. Rebecca—"

"Right here." Rebecca was at the door. She opened her arms and gave Toy Soldier a hug. "I'll see you tomorrow too, and I will lock the door behind you."

"Yes, always remember to lock the door after I leave. I'll—"

"Leave a petal—"

"Two petals, one for you and one for Nico, on the windowsill. Goodnight, Rebecca."

Toy Soldier left. The door shut behind him firmly, and Nico heard the sound of his hopping outside of the window. He listened until he could not. Rebecca reached on her tippy toes and locked the door as she said. She turned to him with a bright smile.

"Hungry? We have stew."

Nico's stomach growled.

Rebecca was the most responsible little kid he had ever seen. In quick order, she balanced two full bowls and cups to their little table. She gave him his dinner first, then sat across from him with a wide grin. She dug in. Nico was a little more hesitant.

"You're not from around here," Rebecca said.

Nico raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"

She gave him a dubious look.

"Ok, I'm not from around here."

Rebecca hummed.

"Where is here?" Nico asked stirring his stew.

"Dressrosa."

"Dress Robes?"

"Dressrosa," Rebecca repeated slowly. "It's an island in the New World. Where are you from? Paradise?"

Nico blinked. Dressrosa was in the New World. He had heard of the New World before in social studies. It was part of the lands and oceans that Christopher Columbus came across when he went the wrong way to get to India.

"Venice. It's in Italy." Nico tried some of the stew. Once he ate one bite, another followed. He pushed some food to the side of his cheek creating a little pouch. "And then, we moved to D.C., but before that, I think we stayed at another place. We came back to D.C. I think. I can't remember..." Nico scrunched his face. It always made his head hurt when he thought about it for too long. "But, I was in Maine for school, then New York City for, um, camp, and now I'm here. In Dressrosa."

"Wow, I can't believe you lived on all of those islands. I thought only marines and pirates traveled that much," Rebecca said. "What sea are you from?"

"The Adriatic and Atlantic."

Rebecca's eye twitched. "There are only four seas in the world." She sounded like she wanted to say duh, you big dummy. "The North Blue, East Blue, West Blue, and South Blue. The New World has the West and North Blue."

"Oh," Nico said in a small voice.

"You really aren't from here."

"Yeah." Nico saw that clear as day, a sinking feeling started in the pit of his stomach.

Rebecca glanced at her bowl. The subject dropped.

"Where did Toy Soldier go?" Nico asked.

If possible Rebecca looked even more uncomfortable.

"All toys have to go to the Toy House before midnight. King Doflamingo's rules."

"A flamingo is king here?" Rebecca giggled with Nico's shock, and then stopped when Nico added, "Dellinger said the same thing."

"Doflamingo is no flamingo though he wears an incredibly ugly coat of pink feathers." Rebecca stuck her tongue out. "He's the King of Dressrosa and the captain of the Donquixote Pirates. Dellinger is part of the Donquixote Pirates."

"Really? I didn't know pirates let babies in."

Rebecca sniffed, "A baby that was strong enough to kick your butt. You're lucky Dellinger is pretty weak compared to the rest of the family. If you ran into Diamante, you'd be dead. He's a real monster."

Nico hummed. "It sounds like you know a lot about the Donquixote Pirates."

Rebecca blinked at him three times, each time, her eyes grew more glossy and her bottom lip wobbled. Nico had really stuck his foot in it, again. She scrubbed her eyes and kept eating. Nico did the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: OCT 13TH, 2020:
> 
> Timeline! 
> 
> Dec 10th, 1922: Bianca is born. (her birthday and year are not canon, i just took a wild guess)
> 
> January 28th, 1924: Nico is born.
> 
> Dec 2006: Nico disappears into the past, the One Piece World. At this point, he is ten years old and Bianca is twelve.
> 
> Where I got this badass, ONE PIECE awesome timeline?: https://thelibraryofohara.com/2018/05/14/one-piece-timeline/
> 
> ?: Donquixote Family rules Dressrosa. They become rulers and "Era of Slavery" begins for the Tontatta Family.
> 
> 700: Riku I apologizes to the Tontatta: Chapter 261, it is mentioned King Riku I ascended to the thronen800 years ago
> 
> April 3rd, 1434: Brook is born.
> 
> Oct 23rd, 1483: Donquxiote Doflamingo is born.
> 
> March 9th, 1488: Cutty Flam "Franky" is born.
> 
> February 3rd, 1495: Nico Robin is born.
> 
> 1495: Kyros wins a hundred battles at the Colosseum.
> 
> 1500: Sept - Gol D. Roger is executed by the World Government
> 
> 1500: GREAT AGE OF THE PIRATES BEGINS
> 
> Jan 1st, 1502: Gol D. Ace is born on Baterilla, South Blue
> 
> March 2nd, 1503: Vinsmokes are born. Sanji is born in Germa Kingdom.
> 
> November 11th, 1503: Zoro is born.
> 
> Jan 28th, 1504: Nico would be born on this year if he were from the OP world.
> 
> July 3rd, 1504: Nami is born.
> 
> Kyros wins his 3000th battle. Kyros has been in the Colosseum for nine years
> 
> April 1st, 1505: Usopp is born.
> 
> May 5th, 1505: Monkey D. Luffy is born.
> 
> 1507: A thirteen-year-old Rob Lucci who kills born pirate and hostages. He is shot on the back with cannoballs, leaving a large scar resembling the World Government sign.
> 
> 1507: Rosinante infiltrates the Donquixote Pirates
> 
> June 23rd, 1508: Charlotte Pudding is born.
> 
> August 4th, 1508: Rebecca is born to Scarlett and Kyros on Dressrosa
> 
> August 11th, 1508: half-fishman Dellinger is born and he is adopted by the Donquxiote Family
> 
> December 24th, 1508: Chopper is born.
> 
> 1508: Law joins the Donquixote Pirates, he estimates he has 2 to 3 years left of life.
> 
> 1511: Rosinante is shot to death by Doflamingo, but Law escapes (this is the time he eats the devil fruit).
> 
> 1514: Doflamingo's Dressrosa operation begins. He raids ships containing heavenly tribute for the tenryuubito, blackmails the government into making him a shickibukai.
> 
> Doflamingo blackmails King Riku. He frames the King as a greedy and presents himself and the Doflamingo Pirates/Pirates as the heroes rescuing the Dressrosa citizens from the tyranny of the noble Riku Family.
> 
> Diamante kills Rebecca's mother, Scarlett.
> 
> Kyros attempts to fight Doflamingo, but Doflamingo cuts off his leg, and he is turned into the first toy. Due to Sugar's devil fruit power, everyone forgets of his existence, however, he continues to take care of Rebecca as Toy Soldier even if she isn't aware that he is her father.
> 
> Doflamingo establishes an underground empire by transforming toys into slaves, working in an underground smuggling factory.
> 
> December 1515: Nico lands here on Dressora, nearly a year after Dressrosa has been taken over by Doflamingo. At this point, Nico is ten and Rebecca is seven.
> 
> (1) I know Dellinger is a boy, but I think Dellinger has an androgynous appearance that makes it hard for people to tell his gender at first glance.
> 
> Also, I'll probably play with my summary a bit. While I don't expect a lot of reviews for this particular crossover fandom, I am surprised that no one is reading and I think it might be my summary that's throwing people off.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico's only been on this island for two days and already he's in big trouble.

After eating, Nico fell into an uneasy sleep beside Rebecca. 

He dreamed about his sister and Thalia. Away from the campers, Thalia and Bianca sat outside of Cabin 8. A sphere of dead grass surrounded Bianca. She curled herself into a tight ball. Her head rested on her knees. She wore her floppy green hat. Thalia, at her side, looked even more uncomfortable, as if Apollo had asked her to drive for a second time. She picked at the dead grass. In a low whisper, Thalia told Bianca about her brother Jason and how he disappeared from her too. Nico wanted to yell liar. They weren’t like Thalia’s sad story. He and Bianca weren’t gone from each other forever; he was right there. 

Nico shouted Bianca’s name. His shout grew louder and louder with every iteration. He ran toward her and Thalia. Each step he took, it felt like he was pushed two steps backward. He reached out his hand, a shadow extended, and he roared, “Bianca!” 

Bianca’s head snapped up. Her big brown eyes stared at him with knit brows, “Ni—”

The dream dissolved into nothing. 

Nico gasped and shot straight up. Sweat covered him.

He clutched at the heavy blanket. Blinking blearily at his surroundings, he half-understood what he saw in front of him. He was in a small space. A cabin on the island of Dressrosa where there were humans, fishmen, and toys. It was a country ruled by a man called Doflamingo, but he wasn’t a flamingo; he was a pirate. Nico liked pirates. He still liked pirates, he just didn’t like the pirates he had met yesterday.

Slowly, Nico checked his wound on his left side. lt was a bright red with clear indentations where Dellinger bit him, but he was already healing. He guessed with a couple more nights of sleep, he would get a cool battle scar out of it. He and Bianca were fast healers, especially if they got to sleep somewhere that was dark.

Rebecca rubbed her eyes as she sat up with him. “I have scary dreams too,” she yawned. 

Nico wanted to tell her he wasn’t having nightmares. He didn’t need to be comforted, but he couldn’t swallow past the lump in his throat. He missed Bianca. Waking up in the cabin, Nico was reminded he wasn’t in a dream. Bianca wasn’t here. Worst of all, Bianca didn’t know he was in a safe place. He hated to make Bianca worry. 

Rebecca glanced at the windowsill. A dip formed on her forehead. “Toy Soldier isn’t here yet, it’s early.”

“Sorry to wake you up,” Nico said, feeling bad. 

Rebecca smiled at Nico. She rolled over and got out of bed. “Let’s make breakfast before Toy Soldier comes.”

It was a welcome distraction. 

Nico thought he was used to hard work. For the better part of the year, he woke up to the dreadful sound of a bugle at 0 dark hundred. There were chores and formations before breakfast. Rebecca showed him how useless he actually was. It was embarrassing for a seven-year-old to finally sit him in front of a pot of water, charging him with the super important task of watching it boil, while she flurried around him with actual breakfast foodstuffs.

“You’re going to mess it up,” Rebecca said baldly. “But I’ll teach you later, and then you can help.”

Nico groaned.

Toy Soldier knocked on the door and came in when the sun bled through the two windows and their thin curtains. He and Rebecca were already halfway through their cooling breakfast. Toy Soldier’s nutcracker mouth opened in shock. He zipped straight toward them on his motorized wheel.

“Rebecca. I’m sorry to have arrived so late. You didn’t have to make breakfast.” 

“I can do it,” Rebecca said. “I woke up early and Nico helped.”

Nico nodded once, his mouth full of bread and jam. 

“Oh,” Toy Soldier said. He set his rifle down next to one of the table’s legs and hopped on a chair to sit in front of Nico. “Thank you for helping, Nico. It’s nice when Rebecca doesn’t have to do things alone.”

Nico swallowed. 

Toy Soldier did not make a plate for himself. 

“About yesterday,” Toy Soldier began and Nico’s shoulders lowered. “Children shouldn’t play so close to the ports. It’s dangerous. There are pirates and young humans fetch a good price if sold, especially growing boys like yourself. You’ll be strong one day.”

Nico felt a chill in his bones. The pirates, Toy Soldier described, sounded nothing like the swashbuckling, mischievous pirate Jack Sparrow or the heroic and trailblazing Leif Erikson. 

“I didn’t know,” Nico said. “But that boy, the fishman, Dellinger—”

“Dellinger is two times stronger than the average man,” Toy Soldier interrupted sharply. “He can handle himself and even if he couldn’t, he has a fearsome family looking out for him, unlike you.”

Nico frowned. Uncomfortable digging into his insides.

“You stayed here for the night, but your parents must be worried.” Toy Soldier meant it as a sentence but phrased it like an open-ended question. His voice had lowered to a tone Nico recognized as a tiptoe, and he was a field of bombs. 

“No, they won’t,” Nico said. “My parents won’t notice. My sister and I, well, our parents are important, rich, and busy. It’s just been us.”

It wasn’t a complete lie. When Nico thought about Mammina for too long, his head hurt something fierce. He remembered how warm her hand felt when they passed the Statue of Liberty on a boat, and he remembered a fancy hotel with high ceilings and crystal chandeliers and an awful ringing in his ears. There had been a man too. A man of shadows. His eyebrows knit and there was a pounding in his head as he tried to center the particular memory. 

Toy Soldier’s eyes were heavy on him. His mouth opened, then he closed it with a loud snap. “It’s just your sister looking after you.”

“Yeah,” Nico rushed out. “But, I don’t need anyone else but Bianca. She makes sure I brush my teeth two times a day, nags me to wash behind my ears and eat all my vegetables, and she checks over my homework before she starts on her own.”

Rebecca touched his shoulder, and Nico deflated. 

“It sounds like she’s doing a marvelous job,” Toy Soldier said brightly. “I’m sorry if I caused any offense.”

Nico nodded. He wanted Toy Soldier to know how awesome his older sister was before he did what adults did best and meddled without listening. One time in Washington D.C., a woman called the police on him and Bianca when Nico told them about how she took care of him. The lady smiled and praised his sister, but she still called the police. When the police arrived, it had been two gigantic men, each with one large blinking eye. Their breath stank like rotting goat meat. They tried to separate him from Bianca. Luckily, he and Bianca had been faster than the monstrous police officers. 

“Where’s your sister now?” Toy Soldier asked. “She’s probably worried sick, and I’d like to ease that. Children shouldn’t be sad.” He clapped his wooden hands and Nico smiled.

“Last night, Rebecca told me that there are four seas and that there’s paradise and this here is an island in the New World,” Nico said. Toy Soldier nodded encouragingly. “But, I’ve never heard of those places and I don’t know how I ended up here. I ate something awful... and then... and then...”

Nico blinked, tearing his eyes from Toy Soldier’s penetrating blue. Boys weren’t supposed to cry.

“You can stay here,” Rebecca said. “I don’t have my family either and Toy Soldier is always at work.”

“Rebecca,” Toy Soldier interrupted sternly, “that’s Nico’s choice. You can’t decide for him, but.” Toy Soldier rose and placed his hands on the table, leaning forward, his face flushed. “Until we come up with a solution to get you back to your sister, you can stay here if you would like. All children should have safe homes.” 

He hadn’t considered what would have happened if Toy Soldier and Rebecca decided that they didn’t want to keep him there. He was grateful for their generosity. 

“Thank you,” Nico said.

“After breakfast, I can show you around Carta,” Rebecca said excitedly. She stacked their dirty plates. 

“Be careful,” Toy Soldier warned. “Don’t stay out past sundown and stay away from the ports.” 

“We will,” Rebecca promised.

“Where will you go?” Nico asked.

“I work a bunch of odd jobs,” Toy Soldier said with gusto. “And I shall work harder with you in the house. I’ll ask if they have any clothes they can spare.”

Nico blushed. Despite the age difference between him and Rebecca, they wore the same size. Since his clothes were ruined from his trip in the ocean, he was forced to wear the only clothing available to him: Rebecca’s. He wore long pants and a white long-sleeved shirt with a yellow four embroidered in the middle.

Toy Soldier left when he threw open the curtains and let the sunlight in. Rebecca walked him through her morning routine, which Nico guessed would become his soon enough. He followed Rebecca’s cleaning routine for both the cabin and personal hygiene, then they tumbled down the flower-covered field, passing the smaller houses and into the colorful town of Carta. 

“Do they make letters there?” Nico asked. 

Rebecca grinned. “Carta is the mailing hub for Dressrosa,” Rebecca said. With her finger, she pointed. “There’s Balsa in the North. They make all of our ships and our factories are located there too. Primula is in the Northwest and that’s where you go if you like-like someone. Sebio is South and they’re still building after what happened with King Riku. Right there, in the middle, that’s where Doflamingo lives with the rest of the family, and then, there’s Acacia. It’s in the Southwest and it has La Corrida (1).”

“The bullfight?” Nico raised an eyebrow at Rebecca. “It’s a town for bull-fighting?” 

“What — no!” Rebecca shot him an equally confused look. “It’s the name of the Colosseum: La Corrida Colosseum. It’s why anyone comes to Dressrosa, to see a fight or take part and be like its legendary hero. Or, they come to Dressrosa to see its beautiful and passionate women.” 

Rebecca swept her arms out and twirled. “When I grow up, I will be a beautiful woman like Ms. Viola and everyone will do what I say.”

Nico laughed. “Why? Because you’ll be beautiful?” 

“Yes!” Rebecca agreed.

Nico didn’t argue with her. To him, he thought girls were pretty all right as far as people went. The gold standard being his sister. Boys his age and older, plus Grover didn’t think girls were pretty all right. Most of his peers thought girls were something special. He saw how Percy Jackson looked at the pretty girl with princess blonde curls just like Apollo looked at Thalia, and many of his classmates looked at him when they asked about Bianca and if she had a boyfriend. Boys like-liked girls. Nico wondered when the feeling would happen to him. There was no girl he like-liked yet, or thought was especially pretty enough to compliment or hold hands with or even suffer through abuse. Back in the silver glittering tents, he had watched as the Hunters made a game of tag with Grover. Never mind how the Hunters had turned the game deadly with their sharp-pointed arrows and knives, Grover wore the dopiest smile. 

He supposed the feeling hadn’t caught up to him. Bianca told him he shouldn’t worry about girls anyway as Bianca didn’t worry about boys. There were much more important things, like his grades and keeping up with the school work. It was easy for him to get distracted, and the words he read often floated off the page and resembled jabberwocky. Bianca had the same issues too, but at Westover, she was at the top of her class. “I don’t care about stupid boys and you shouldn’t concern yourself with stupid girls, Bianca told him over books in the library, glancing up with her glittering black eyes. “Just worry about your school books, God, and nothing else. There’s a reason Father sent us to this school. We will not embarrass him.”

“If you say so.” Nico shrugged with Rebecca. 

As Nico glimpsed yesterday, Carta was the most colorful town he had ever seen. 

All the buildings, most short and wide, were painted in blues and pinks and oranges. The roofs were an oddly appetizing candy stripe that made him think of peppermints for Christmas.

“There are a lot of toys around,” Nico said. He jumped as a toy dog with wire in its middle barked at him for moving too slow. A little girl chased after the dog and a raggedy-ann Mom chased after the kid. 

Name the relationship and there was a toy and human coupling. Some toys even worked storefronts and little carts. It amazed Nico. 

“Yeah,” Rebecca said. “I already told you that toys and humans live as one on Dressrosa. That makes Dressrosa special.”

“A lot of things make Dressrosa special,” Nico said. “Its women, its toys, and its Colosseum. The other islands must be boring.”

Rebecca shook her head. “Toy Soldier says there is an island ten thousand feet in the sky and twenty thousand leagues below in the sea. There’s an island in Paradise called Water 7 with the best shipbuilders in the world and a sea train. There are all kinds of islands. On Sunday, I’ll show you when the News Coco delivers the paper: The World Economy News Paper. You’ll see, it has the news on all the islands in the world. It’s boring, but I like it for Sora, Warrior of the Sea. He’s always fighting against his arch nemeses: Germa Double Six-Six. And he never kills anyone. That’s his most important rule. ”

“You would like that. You’d probably be Poison Pink,” came a squeaky voice. Then came a shadow of a rock. Nico saw how it skittered in the space between him and Rebecca.

Nico spun to see a group of children, older and younger than him and Rebecca. They looked rough and smelled worse. 

Rebecca curled her fists and got in front of him. “No, I wouldn’t!” 

“Yes, you would!” a boy with a nasty sneer shouted. “Dad says anybody that’s related to King Riku is evil and should have died in the fire!”

“Yeah!” the kids chorused making mean faces at Rebecca.

Nico never liked bullies. 

“Leave her alone,” Nico said.

The kids paid him no mind. “The only good thing your mom’s ever done was die, and your daddy probably killed himself out of embarrassment.”

Nico’s ears flushed red. He didn’t care if the kid looked like he was on the early side of eight. He was a snot-nosed brat. Nico was going to give the kid a wedgie so bad that he’d be coughing up bits of his skid-marked underwear for weeks.

Rebecca beat him to the punch. She curled in her arm and then shoved her full body weight onto her bully. He sprawled on the ground and Rebecca didn’t let him up. She punched him in the face while the other kids watched with the awe that came out of watching a big kid get thrashed by the underdog. 

Nico wore a frightening glare and imitated his former platoon leader, a pimply faced teenager by the name of Jamal, who was gentle as the sea breeze until it was time to whip them into shape. “You all better scram before I join in on the fight too.”

He stepped. They ran away in all different directions. 

Rebecca fell back, and her victim scrambled from under her. He took one last terrified glance at them with his pink, puffy face and joined the others. Nico shared one glance with Rebecca. Their faces were blank one moment. In the next, he let out a small laugh and Rebecca laughed too, and soon, both of them were clutching their stomachs and laughing up a storm.

“Did you see his face--“

“-- he looked like he was going to cry--”

“They were so tough--”

“--- then, your voice sounded like Toy Soldier and how’d’you do that thing with your eyes--”

“-- I can’t believe you punched him in the face. I think I heard his nose crack--”

“-- it was that, or down below.”

Nico blanched. “That’s scary. Rebecca, you can be scary.” 

Rebecca giggled. “It’s a trick that Toy Soldier taught me.”

Nico hummed. He was getting the idea that Dressrosa was a wonderland on the surface. With anything, there were a few dark spots. It made sense while Toy Soldier was away, Rebecca needed to protect herself. From the looks of it, Nico didn’t think anyone with a brain would mess with her.

“What did they mean about King Riku? He was the king before the flamingo guy?” Nico asked. “He sounded bad.”

“I don’t…” Rebecca trailed off, then she screwed her face up. “When he came over to visit. King Riku wasn’t. Grandfather was sweet, and he told me stories. Mama always laughed when he came to visit.”

Nico glanced at Rebecca from the side. 

“I can’t really remember what happened. One night there was a big fire and everybody was mad at Grandfather and Mama. We were on the run and I was hungry. I was five.” Rebecca wiped the corner of her eyes. 

Nico placed a hand on her shoulder. 

“It makes sense that you’re a princess,” Nico said, knowing that he messed up by asking her a question but also knowing that he didn’t have to dwell on it. Sometimes it was best not to talk about hard things until the other person was ready. “Only princesses have pink hair.” 

Rebecca blinked at him owlishly. The tears brimming in her eyes were blinked back, and there was a wobbly smile on her lips. 

“I’m not a princess,” Rebecca said. 

“Oh, silly me, I thought all beautiful women were princesses. It must be that all princesses are beautiful women.” 

Rebecca glanced at him sideways. “Let’s eat at a cafe. I’ll tell you all about the fairies of Dressrosa.”

Nico snorted. “There are fairies now? This place has more freaky things than the video I watched with Gro…” he paused with his sentence as his throat suddenly grew dry. He shivered. There was a little voice in his head that told him to dodge, so he veered to the right.

Rebecca didn’t get the memo. He heard her scream, and he saw her body thrown to the side of a stone building with a sickening crack. She fell. 

Anger ignited in him. Nico saw a jolly roger first. 

It was the strangest jolly roger he ever saw. In the background, there was a tree and a slash of blue waves. Then, there was the more familiar skull with a crown. Behind the skull was a pink circle like a lion’s mane or an extremely ugly feathered boa, and the skull wore a crown. The jolly roger grinned sinisterly with its big red-lipsticked lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: OCT 13TH, 2020:
> 
> Timeline! 
> 
> Dec 10th, 1922: Bianca is born. (her birthday and year are not canon, i just took a wild guess)
> 
> January 28th, 1924: Nico is born.
> 
> Dec 2006: Nico disappears into the past, the One Piece World. At this point, he is ten years old and Bianca is twelve.
> 
> Where I got this badass, ONE PIECE awesome timeline?: https://thelibraryofohara.com/2018/05/14/one-piece-timeline/
> 
> ?: Donquixote Family rules Dressrosa. They become rulers and "Era of Slavery" begins for the Tontatta Family.
> 
> 700: Riku I apologizes to the Tontatta: Chapter 261, it is mentioned King Riku I ascended to the thronen800 years ago
> 
> April 3rd, 1434: Brook is born.
> 
> Oct 23rd, 1483: Donquxiote Doflamingo is born.
> 
> March 9th, 1488: Cutty Flam "Franky" is born.
> 
> February 3rd, 1495: Nico Robin is born.
> 
> 1495: Kyros wins a hundred battles at the Colosseum.
> 
> 1500: Sept - Gol D. Roger is executed by the World Government
> 
> 1500: GREAT AGE OF THE PIRATES BEGINS
> 
> Jan 1st, 1502: Gol D. Ace is born on Baterilla, South Blue
> 
> March 2nd, 1503: Vinsmokes are born. Sanji is born in Germa Kingdom.
> 
> November 11th, 1503: Zoro is born.
> 
> Jan 28th, 1504: Nico would be born on this year if he were from the OP world.
> 
> July 3rd, 1504: Nami is born.
> 
> Kyros wins his 3000th battle. Kyros has been in the Colosseum for nine years
> 
> April 1st, 1505: Usopp is born.
> 
> May 5th, 1505: Monkey D. Luffy is born.
> 
> 1507: A thirteen-year-old Rob Lucci who kills born pirate and hostages. He is shot on the back with cannoballs, leaving a large scar resembling the World Government sign.
> 
> 1507: Rosinante infiltrates the Donquixote Pirates
> 
> June 23rd, 1508: Charlotte Pudding is born.
> 
> August 4th, 1508: Rebecca is born to Scarlett and Kyros on Dressrosa
> 
> August 11th, 1508: half-fishman Dellinger is born and he is adopted by the Donquxiote Family
> 
> December 24th, 1508: Chopper is born.
> 
> 1508: Law joins the Donquixote Pirates, he estimates he has 2 to 3 years left of life.
> 
> 1511: Rosinante is shot to death by Doflamingo, but Law escapes (this is the time he eats the devil fruit).
> 
> 1514: Doflamingo's Dressrosa operation begins. He raids ships containing heavenly tribute for the tenryuubito, blackmails the government into making him a shickibukai.
> 
> Doflamingo blackmails King Riku. He frames the King as a greedy and presents himself and the Doflamingo Pirates/Pirates as the heroes rescuing the Dressrosa citizens from the tyranny of the noble Riku Family.
> 
> Diamante kills Rebecca's mother, Scarlett.
> 
> Kyros attempts to fight Doflamingo, but Doflamingo cuts off his leg, and he is turned into the first toy. Due to Sugar's devil fruit power, everyone forgets of his existence, however, he continues to take care of Rebecca as Toy Soldier even if she isn't aware that he is her father.
> 
> Doflamingo establishes an underground empire by transforming toys into slaves, working in an underground smuggling factory.
> 
> December 1515: Nico lands here on Dressora, nearly a year after Dressrosa has been taken over by Doflamingo. At this point, Nico is ten and Rebecca is seven.
> 
> It's three am & I'm tired.
> 
> (1) Nico is bilingual and apparently, La Corrida means Bullfight in Italian. I don't trust translators but we're going with it. 
> 
> (2) This point doesn't correspond to anything but I would like to reiterate that I'm tired and there are probably other little things I wanted to point out but I'm in a fuck-it mood. :D


	4. Harbinger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico goes avatar state.

Nico was on his haunches. Slowly, he stood and took in the people under the strange jolly roger.

It took everything within Nico to not scamper over to Rebecca.

A little voice in his head, the same voice that told him to dodge, alerted him to the obvious. If their unusual appearance didn't give it away these people were bad news. They had his full attention.

"Who put these brats in our way?" screamed a guy in a yellow furry jacket with SNACK written in bold black letters. "Is this the welcome we get from Joker? Mama won't be pleased if his citizens don't respect their betters." Spit accompanied each word out of his mouth. Was he always so angry? Snacks usually lifted moods.

"Yeaaaah," chorused two sets of quintuplets, or were they decuplets? It didn't matter. There were ten kids his age wearing Pepto Bismol pink. Half of them were leggy brunette girls, and the other half were beady-eyed, purple-haired boys.

The youngest of the strange group was a girl around Rebecca's age. She stuck her tongue out at Nico. Nico would have stuck his tongue out as well if it weren't for the three extremely tall people hovering around Snack, the decuplets, and the girl.

The man in the middle, if he could even be called that, looked like a half-melted ice-cream cone. His beard appeared to be made out of vanilla ice cream and his body, large and round, was made out of goopy chocolate.

To the right of the ice cream man was a woman. She was slender and wore a white, wide-brimmed hat and a pale pinstriped dress with a wine-colored sash. Nico couldn't see her face. There was an air around her that Nico didn't like. But, all of them put together weren't nearly as bad as the man completing the trio of extremely tall people.

Towering over his gang, he was the most ordinary-looking of the group. A ragged, fluffy scarf covered his mouth and he wore tight leather pants and an open leather vest. His muscled arms were folded. His eyes were an intense crimson.

Nico gulped. He wasn't sure what exactly it was about this unassuming giant of a man, but every molecule in his body told him to run in the opposite direction.

"They are of no concern to us," the man said. "We have an appointment to catch and if we miss it, that makes us late for merienda. We will not be late."

"Big Brother," they chorused and followed him. Nico read Charlotte on the man's wide and proud back as he turned around.

With each step away from him, Nico could breathe, and he found his courage.

There was no way he was going to let them get away without first apologizing. Rebecca was owed that much.

"Hey!" Nico called. "Say you're sorry for bumping into us!"

"What?" Melty hissed with a dark scowl. "You must be stupid, brat! I'll show you!" he pushed his siblings out of the way only to be stopped by the slender woman pulling her nodachi from the black scabbard hanging at her waist.

Nico's eyebrows raised. He had never seen a sword as long as hers.

"What's this, Amande?" Melty growled.

"Shirauo hungers for blood," Amande interrupted, stepping forward. "Katakuri, I will take care of this brat."

Katakuri half-turned. He inclined his head. Once more, Nico was under his unfortunate gaze. "Do what you wish," Katakuri said continuing on his way.

Melty's scowl darkened, but he did not protest. Nico was given the chance to see the back of all of them and he was relieved. If he had faced that man, Charlotte Katakuri, he was certain that he would not have survived.

His relief was short-lived. Amande took a dainty step forward and with a single slash of her sword, Nico flew backward through a wall. A brick wall.

He laid in the rubble. Dazed didn't even cover what he was feeling. Coughing up a dust cloud, he sat up and brushed the dirt and bits of brick clinging to his shoulders and clothing. So, he was a lot sturdier than he expected, which was both good and cool.

"Whoa!"

Nico tucked into a ball and rolled to the left as Amande dived forward. Her sword dug into the ground with deceptive ease. It might as well have been cake.

"That could have killed me!"

Amande's droopy fish eyes were unmoved. "You say that as if that's a bad thing. People mightier than you have been slain by my sword. You should be honored."

"Well, I'm not! I'm feeling _very_ unhonored right now."

 _Dodge!_ pounded in Nico's head and he was doing his best to follow the single command. Sometimes, he dodged. In most of the cases, he did not. He could not. His clothing was torn with thousands of rips and he was covered in a hundred crescent cuts. Knowing when to dodge didn't help when he couldn't keep up with Amande's insane speed. If he blinked, she already surged in front of him. Smoke from her cigarette billowed in his face, her sword gleamed in the sun.

Panting, Nico was on all fours doing an awkward scuttle away from her. "If I die, I just want you to know that smoking is terrible for your lungs. It'll kill you."

Amande didn't so much as blink. She swung her sword and once more; Nico tumbled through the air into a stone building. Distantly, he heard the citizens of Carta, screaming and running away. Groaning, Nico rubbed the back of his head.

"Is this all you have to offer?" Amande asked, displeasure in her voice. "I grow tired of this cat-and-mouse game."

"You could let me go and find a better opponent?" Nico suggested.

Amande's eyes widened. "Yes, you're right," she agreed.

Nico's eyebrows knit. Amande turned away from him and she walked toward Rebecca's body. She wouldn't.

"Don't touch her!" Nico yelled.

Amande loomed over Rebecca. Her pale hands wrapped around the handle of her sword. Nico swore he heard the air sliced.

He had been behind Amande, but in his next breath, he was a barrier between her and Rebecca. Amande's sword dug under his collarbone. She twisted the sword further in. His blood draped the shining metal. Amande's expression was unchanged though her eyes brightened with sadistic joy.

She was one of _those_ types. She liked to inflict pain for the sake of it. Nico hated her.

"You care about this girl," Amande said. "That's good. Very, very good." Leisurely, she cut into his flesh, slicing down his torso inch by torturous inch.Nico shrieked nearly choking on his spit. _Stopitstopitstopit. “_ I won't kill you. No. I'll save that for later. I will chop the girl up limb by limb and make you watch. Then, I will kill you at the height of your agony. After all, what is the point of killing another if their life ends instantly."

"You will not touch her," Nico hissed through tears.

Amande's lips curled at the corners. She yanked the sword from him. Then she threw him aside.

Her bloodied sword rested under Rebecca's neck. "Watch me," she said. She pushed the edge in and Nico let out a chilling screech.

Over the next few days, the battle came to Nico in spurts. He remembered the knell ringing shrill in his ears.

The ground under him growled with every bloodied step he took. Any sign of greenery stubbornly poking itself through the cobblestones shriveled black, and the air was cold. Frost and shadow crept over stone, toy, and person.

Still, Amande with her long neck did not look concerned with the change. "So, you are a devil fruit user. But you are young and you will learn your place."

Nico blinked. She was in front of him. He was too slow. He flung through the air with the force of her kick and he skittered across the stones before he came to a halt.

Absently, he touched the shallow hole where Amande's stiletto heel had been and he got to his feet. She came to him and he was prepared to meet her.

He thrust his right arm in front of him, his palm was wide and open. Slowly, he made a fist.

Amande, so tall and proud, dropped to her knees and clutched her sides. Her great sword clattered at her feet. Her trembling increased tenfold, but it had nothing to do with the cold. It was her bones. Nico felt all two hundred and six bones. They were his to do with as he pleased.

"What's the matter?" Nico asked. "I thought you liked pain. Maybe I'm not doing it right. You said there was no pleasure if the pain was drawn quickly."

With every minute wiggle of his fingers, he started to crush Amande's bones into dust. He began with her baby toe, then moving onward.

"Stop this! Stop this at once!"

"You know," Nico continued, "I think I'm getting the hang of this."

There were three sounds in his ears. A bell sound, his heartbeat, and the cracking sound of Amande's bones laced with her wet, gasping begs for death.

"Kill me, please, kill me!"

Nico laughed. Death was mercy. She did not get mercy until she paid for crimes. Nico demanded justice.

His hand was halfway closed. Amande's femurs and below were no more.

"Big sister Amande!" ripped through the air.

Nico paused.

Confusion bled into the cold and dark justice coursing through Nico. He had heard the horrified, maddening tone before, but when he looked down all he saw was the baby brunette girl in her pink dress rushing to Amande's side. He did not understand why he was disappointed. This girl's large brown eyes like chocolate pudding pinned Nico to the spot as tears spilled down her chubby cheeks and forehead?

"Big sister," Nico mumbled.

Cruel Amande was a big sister?

"What are you doing here? Stupid girl, go to Katakuri!" Amande commanded as she tried to shake the girl off her side and move in front of her. "Run, I'll hold him off, just go!"

"But, Big Sister, I can help-"

Nico held his head. A low, terrible moan escaped him. The air changed. Plunging to freezing temperatures, it was heavier and it carried his desperation and anguish. He missed Bianca so much. Responding to him, the earth between his feet split open and wobbled.

The girl screamed once more and clung to her sister. It was her saving grace.

Amande was a big sister. Nico couldn't take her away, though she deserved to join the nebulous, dark space of the underworld where millions of the dead chattered in his ear ceaselessly. He walked by Amande and her sister. He kept his mouth shut only glancing at them as he stole Amande's sword.

He found Rebecca. She was under the umbrella of a shadow.

Nico gathered her and the sword in his arms. He sank into the shadow, focused on getting back to the only safe place he knew, Rebecca's cabin. He didn't question how he got there so fast.

Gently, Nico placed Rebecca on the bed. He brushed her pink hair back. There was no ringing in his ears. Rebecca was safe.

Nico blacked out.

Stuck between the waking and dream world, Nico wasn't sure what was real or how long time had passed. Toy Soldier appeared before him, his cold wooden hands tight on his shoulders and he was talking to him. Trying to be comforting and not panicked. Rebecca's name clawed up Nico's throat, but he couldn't remember how to speak.

He felt somethings crawl up his body. Little, round people with threading needles held high in the air. Then, red-hot pain. Nico thrashed as he was punctured repeatedly. He was split into two and sewed into a whole. He was tethered to the blackness and shrouded in flames.

There was Rebecca's sweet voice. She whispered a story in his ear about the king of pirates. He was the only pirate worth mentioning. The best of them. He acquired wealth, fame, and power, but he cared about none of that. He only cared about his crew and adventures. When he was captured, he went to his death with an enormous smile and a cry that sent droves of people to the seas. Regret filled Nico. Why hadn't he met the king of pirates?

There was a shadow of a freckled woman holding a crying baby.

In a glittering palace of jewels, there was a man on an obsidian throne. He was long and lean like a sword and he was pale as bleached bone. His eyes were cruel and kind by turns. There was a pulse of familiarity attached to the man. Where had Nico seen him before? He tried hard to remember. Who are you? He wasn't able to ask.

_It's not time yet._

It was the last push he needed.

Nico's eyes opened, and he inhaled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In my long fanfiction career, I have never written a proper battle scene! I based it on how RR writes battle scenes! It's surprisingly difficult.
> 
> I would like to say if Charlotte Amande took him seriously from the get-go Nico would have absolutely gotten his scrawny ass handed to him! But because she underestimated Nico and Nico tapped his "avatar state," he was able to win.
> 
> So, what do I mean by "avatar state"? In PJO and HoO, the children of the big three get moments when they are in extreme amounts of danger and they kinda just go 0 to 100 with full control of their abilities and their parents' domains. It is in these moments they are often the most powerful people around able to go toe to toe with gods. That said, I think Nico will only go "avatar state" a few times throughout this fic. So, he's probably going to get his ass kicked a lot until he can be a natural heavy-hitter.
> 
> I dedicate Nico's repeated use of "dodge" to Best Adoptive Dad Piccolo and his desire to teach his nerd son, Gohan, how to dodge.
> 
> Lastly, don't forget to tell me what you liked and/or what you didn't like! I love con-crit. Please and thank you. I'm passed the point in my fanfiction writing life to beg for reviews especially since I don't review things all that much anymore (maybe this is karma), but I will say it is discouraging to see other stories of the same fusion get so much more attention than mine. I can't help but wonder if I'm doing something wrong.


	5. Boys Don't Cry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico has a late-night chat.

It was dark. Dark enough that it took his eyes awhile to adjust. Dark enough that he focused on every sensation that crawled and brushed against his skin. Dark enough where he felt weight as he flexed his arms and hands and fingers and frowned when his chest ached.

He was on a lumpy surface. His face scratched against rough woven fibers. A quilt, he thought. If he concentrated, he heard the rattling wheeze of his own breath, but he was not alone in this dark world. There was another. Her.

Bits of memory came to him like puzzle pieces. There had been a fight. Rebecca had been in danger. He had protected her. He hadn’t finished the job because someone cried out. Now, he was on this lumpy surface.

The darkness was disturbed. He groaned as he rolled to the side and his body protested the unnecessary movements. He squinted at the corner of the room closest to the door. Covered in shadows, he saw an outline. The longer he stared, the more he could make out. The outline was a woman. She wore a dress and a cloak and she stood motionless as if invisible. She stared back at him.

He waited to see if she would dissolve into the shadows, a sign of an overactive imagination, but she stayed.

“I see you,” Nico said to the shadow woman.

“I see you too,” the woman said.

She was real. Nico saw enough movies to know nothing good happened when a random stranger appeared in the shadows. “Are you part of that group?” he asked. “The one with Amande?”

The woman stepped out of the shadows. Her dress was purple and polka-dotted. “No.”

“Why are you here?”

“I’ve been watching you.”

“Oh,” Nico said. “Why?”

“Because of Doflamingo.”

“He’s the king, right?”

“He sits on the throne of Dressrosa.”

“I’m in trouble,” Nico guessed.

“Doflamingo does not like surprises. You have been a big one.”

He and this Doflamingo dude had something in common. This entire experience had been a never-ending surprise for him. Stuff sort of kept happening to him and he felt as if he wasn’t able to breathe. “Oh... can you tell him I said sorry? I am sorry,” Nico said.

“You’ll have the chance to tell him in person. Doflamingo has sent me to retrieve you.”

Nico’s heart hammered in his chest.

“You’re part of the flamingo king’s group --- your family --- right? You’re related to him.”

“I will _never_ be a part of his family.”

Nico flinched; he knocked into Rebecca.

Nico turned to Rebecca. He prayed as she shifted on her side of the bed. She frowned at the disturbance but stayed asleep. He watched her for a few moments more, tugging and tucking the quilt even more securely around her.

He felt the woman’s eyes on him.

Nico wished he could hide Rebecca in the shadows. He knew this woman did not like Doflamingo, but she worked for him. It meant she was as dangerous as Amande. To get to him, she might use Rebecca.

“He won’t hurt Rebecca or Toy Soldier, will he, because they did nothing wrong. I’m the one he wants?” Nico faced her.

“Only you,” the woman confirmed.

“O.K.,” Nico said, the tension in his chest loosened. “I have my sword to bring. I promise not to slice flamingo guy with it.” He grimaced as he sat up in bed. Hurt didn’t even describe the pain ricocheting in his body. Closing his eyes, he told himself what he was going to do. _I’m going to stand. I’m going to walk. I’m going to grab my sword. I’m going to leave Rebecca. I have to do it._ Nico nodded as he pulled the quilt from around him.

Only the woman pushed him back down and tucked the quilt under his chin.

It was definitely unexpected, creepy too, but Nico looked up. He knit his eyebrows. “Your eyes are like Rebecca’s,” he blurted, though the color was all wrong. The woman’s eyes were a bright hazel compared to Rebecca’s unusual pink.

“You are brave,” the woman said, the warmth in her eyes cooled. “Bravery will get you killed.”

“What. You said you’re going to take me to Doflamingo.” Nico frowned.

“Just a moment,” the woman said. “Doflamingo knows that no one can escape my Glare-Glare power, but there are many places to hide and Dressrosa is big. It will take some time. I can give you a month.”

“A month?” he asked.

In a month, his birthday might have already passed. A month in this strange unknown land without his sister. He held the blanket tighter, his breaths a little harder.

“It’s not a lot of time,” the woman acknowledged. “It is imperative you use this month to prepare. If you don’t, you will die.”

Nico squeaked. “Whoa. I’m going to die. I don’t want to die! I’ve already almost died like twice! That’s two times more than normal!”

“There is a possibility Doflamingo might see potential in you and offer you a position to join his family.”

Shark Boy 2.0 had said the same thing. Nico wasn’t convinced. Just about everything said about this flamingo guy was in relation to something awful.

The woman must have read the hesitance in his face.

“Doflamingo may wear the skin of a man, but I’m not sure of his humanity. There are only those that are part of his family, and those that aren’t. If he perceives you as a threat, he will show you no mercy.”

Nico’s nails bit through the thick fabric and dug into his palms. Doflamingo was no joke. He murdered boyfriends of family members. He was the reason behind Rebecca and Toy Soldier’s inability to live together. Nico’s stomach knotted.

“What about you?” Nico ventured. “You don’t like Doflamingo, but he has to like you if you’re the one to kidnap me.”

“I am not you,” the woman said. “Doflamingo knows the price of my loyalty. In his eyes, you are better dead than alive, especially since you denied him once.”

“No, I didn’t!” Nico protested. “That’s a lie.”

“Dellinger has told Doflamingo otherwise.”

Nico gaped. “He bit me!”

He had a big scar to prove it.

“You denied his hand,” the woman continued without so much as a pitying frown. Maybe biting was a custom that he was supposed to know. “You furthered aggravated the insult by engaging in a fight with a potential ally.”

“Ally?” Nico asked. “This flamingo guy can shove his invitation up his feathered butt! If his allies are with a bunch of people like Amande and her family, I won’t have anything to do with him!”

Rebecca stirred by his side, and Nico paused. He had to remember to keep his voice down.

“You’re already so weak,” the woman said. “Doflamingo will exploit every angle you have. I’ve already told you he doesn’t care if you are a child. If you won’t stand for him, then you are against him.”

“Like Amande.”

“A thousand times worse. He’s the smartest, cruelest person I know.”

A monster. Doflamingo sounded like a monster of the worst kind. Nico felt the same hatred for Doflamingo as he felt for Amande. Looking at the woman with her eyes so much like Rebecca’s, he saw unease seeped through the cracks in her cool face. She feared Doflamingo; she was scared for him, or maybe it was both. It didn’t matter; he knew when an adult was scared it meant serious business.

“A month. O.K,” Nico said.

“Yes. It is fortunate that you have become friends with the toy soldier. He is well-known for his fighting prowess throughout Dressrosa. He might have fought in La Corrida if toys weren’t barred from participating.”

Nico grinned. “So, you want him to be my Mister Miyagi. Wax on, wax off.”

The woman stared blankly at him. “At any rate,” the woman said as Nico deflated. “It is lucky that you may be under his tutelage. It will have to be enough.”

The woman drew her hood up.

“Thank you,” Nico said.

“I didn’t do it for you,” the woman said.

“Wait. What’s your name?”

The woman paused. Nico thought she might dash out of the door now or simply choose not to answer.

“Viola.”

_Rebecca swept her arms out and twirled. “When I grow up, I will be a beautiful woman like Miss Viola and everyone will do what I say.”_

“Viola.” Nico nodded, swallowing his confusion. “I’m Nico di Angelo.”

Viola visibly drew back as if he had slapped her in the face. He thought he offended her until she smiled at him, a simple curve of her lips as she brushed a brown curl behind her ear.

“D, huh?” Viola said. “Inevitably, the heavenly demon would want to meet his arch-nemesis. I will see you soon, Nico.”

She left. Nico stared at the spot that Viola had occupied until he fell asleep, wondering if he had imagined her.

* * *

Nico cringed.

Groaning, he buried under his pillow. He attempted and failed to hide from the sun. No matter how he twisted and turned, the sun was right in his face. “I hate you,” Nico muttered to the sky. He drooped like an awkward, unwatered plant as he slid into an upright position.

“Nico’s awake!” Rebecca said.

He swiveled as Rebecca dived-bombed him. Her thin arms caught around his neck and she smushed her warm cheek to his. “Toy Soldier, look, Nico’s awake!” she repeated. “You slept for three days. Do you remember the stories I told you?”

“Um...” Nico screwed his face. “I remember you told me a pretty cool one about a pirate, I think he was a prince, no, he was a king! The King of Pirates! Yeah! I’m sorry I can’t remember more.”

“That’s okay. You’re awake now, I can tell you all the stories again.”

He swayed with Rebecca’s weight on his chest, dipping further into the bed. “Rebecca, um.”

“I was scared,” she sniffed and Nico looked down as she trembled. His shoulder was wet with her tears. “You were just lying there and you wouldn’t move. There was so much blood. You were red all over.”

An itch burned in the back of Nico’s throat.

“Don’t leave like Mama,” Rebecca cried.

“Rebecca...I.” He wanted to promise that he would never scare her again, and that he would never leave her side, but that wasn’t true.

Nico looked at the wood floors. His lips drawn in a tight line.

“Rebecca,” Toy Soldier interrupted. He placed a hand on her shoulder, gently tugging her back. “It’s time to clean and re-bandage Nico.”

Rebecca scrubbed her face with her arm, nodding. “O.K.”

“And Rebecca.” Toy Soldier kept his hand on her shoulder. Nico had the impression if Toy Soldier was human, he’d be squeezing. “Now, that Nico’s awake, I bet he’s hungry.”

“I’m actually not--”

Toy Soldier coughed like a frog was in his throat. “I think he’d feel better if he would have some fairy pumpkin gazpacho... would you mind going to town to get some?”

Rebecca turned worried eyes on him, and Toy Soldier nodded over her shoulder.

“Um, gazpacho sounds awesome,” Nico said.

Rebecca stood taller and wiped the remaining tears off her cheeks. “I’ll get the gazpacho and milk. Nico needs milk if he’s going to get stronger.” She found her boots and a blue hoodie. ‘I’ll be right back, O.K?”

Nico saluted her.

He said nothing until Rebecca was well out of the house.

“She’ll be okay,” Toy Soldier said. “Rebecca has eyes on her.”

Nico unglued from the window. He straightened, looking at Toy Soldier as he zoomed around the cabin collecting a small stack of bandages, jars, pots, and pans. It took Toy Soldier awhile before he was back at his bedside.

Toy Soldier placed the items at the lowered end of the bed. He gestured for him to bend as he cut and removed the bandaging.

“We weren’t at the ports,” Nico said. “Rebecca and I were just walking. And--”

“I know,” Toy Soldier said. “Thank you for protecting Rebecca. If I lost her too, well, I don’t know what would have happened. I owe you.”

Nico supposed those were the type of words that made people feel good, however. His hands trembled and the burning itch in his throat was itchier. He had done little protecting. He survived.

Toy Soldier hummed as he cut away. The image of Charlotte Katakuri’s scarlet eyes was like a brand on the brain.

“Nico, you’re safe.”

“No, I’m not,” Nico said, his heartbeat in his ears. He picked at the threads on the quilt. “You didn’t see the way he looked at me, or how Amande played kickball with me. I knew I had to keep moving if I stopped for even a second, I knew she was going to kill me. Rebecca was on the ground, far away.”

It was easy to see now. She looked smaller in his memory. Amande’s shadow had covered her. Her evil sword had been poised above Rebecca, ready to slice her into two.

“I told her not to do it. She didn’t listen.”

It was hard to recall what happened next. There had been an outpouring of anguish.

“It’s okay if you were scared,” Toy Soldier said.

“I was scared,” Nico said. “But not at that moment.”

He had needed to right the wrong committed against him.

“I’m not allowed to say hate. Bianca says if I don’t like something or someone I say ‘I dislike them.’”

When Nico looked into Amande’s menacing fish-eyes, he knew she was serious about her promise to chop Rebecca up limb by limb. He had hated her and he was angry. His anger freed his mind of pain and panic. He had known only one goal: get rid of Amande.

“I hate Amande. I just know I was going to kill her if it was the last thing I did.”

“What stopped you?” Toy Soldier asked.

Nico glanced at Toy Soldier. The question was unexpected. He thought he was going to agree with Bianca and tell him that children weren’t allowed to hate.

“Uh...”

A scream. The details were more than a little fuzzy.

“I don’t remember.”

Toy Soldier didn’t press him for details. He grabbed the used bandages and put them down on the floor. Nico paled when he saw the amount of dried blood, an ugly burgundy, on the white cloth. It was best he kept his attention on his hands. Nico chewed on his lip, his stomach twisted back into knots and once he more picked at the threads.

Toy Soldier unscrewed one of the jars he bought. Whatever it was, it smelt like a sewage. Toy Soldier put some on his hands. The sludge was an even worse brown color. “I murdered people when I was a little older than you,” Toy Soldier said.

“What.”

“l was known all over Dressrosa because of my misdeeds.”

“But you’re a toy.”

Toy Soldier laughed, a brittle sound. “Yes, I’m a toy. A long time ago, I was a boy.”

Sort of like Pinocchio. _No, Toy Soldier was nothing like Pinocchio._ If he said he had been a real boy, Nico believed him.

“Oh, why’d you kill people?”

“I’m going to speak to you honestly, Nico. I would appreciate it if you kept it between us.”

“I will, Toy Soldier.”

“Thank you.”

Nico nodded and Toy Soldier slathered the nasty smelling stuff on his chest. Nico’s fingers twitched with the urge to pinch his nose.

“Revenge,” Toy Soldier said. “Those men I killed --- they were boys --- I couldn’t see that then. At the time, I only knew they were the reason behind my best friend’s death. I had felt their death was the only true justice.”

“Like, an eye for an eye?” Nico asked.

“Exactly.”

“Was it bad?”

“Bad?”

Nico nodded. He heard the mellow string in Toy Soldier’s voice. “I mean, are you sorry for killing them?”

“Yes, I regret it every day. It was a stain I couldn’t get rid off.”

Nico pulled away from Toy Soldier’s hands. “But, they killed your best friend, Toy Soldier. They deserved what was coming to them.”

“No,” Toy Soldier said, ignoring his squirming away from the foul-smelling lotion thing. “It didn’t bring my best friend back. It was just another senseless life taken.”

Nico scowled. “I won’t say sorry for almost killing Amande. In fact, if I could go back, I would because she’s still alive. She still can hurt me or Rebecca and if she does something, it will be my fault!”

His vision blurry, Nico looked outside where it was sunny and bright. Dressrosa was beautiful. He kept looking until he saw clearly. “It’s winter back home. There was a lot of snow.”

“Dressrosa is a spring island. We rarely have snowfall.”

“I’ll forget it’s my birthday. It almost always snows on my birthday.”

“When’s your birthday?”

“January 28th. I’m turning eleven.”

“Eleven, that’s a special age. We’ll have a big celebration.”

“No, we won’t,” Nico said.

Nico avoided looking at Toy Soldier. He ripped out quilt threads.

“If you’re afraid of Amande and Big Mom’s pirates coming back, they won’t. Doflamingo is particular about the people he allows within Dressrosa.”

“It’s because of Doflamingo.”

“What do you mean?” Toy Soldier asked.

Nico said nothing. The itchiness returned.

“You can tell me, Nico.”

Nico thought about how his week started. He should have known it was going to be bad when his school principal, Dr. Thorn, tried to kidnap him and his sister. Dr. Thorn also turned out to be a monster. Nico kind of already suspected that. The confirmation had been nice.

“Did he threaten you? You don’t have to face him alone.”

“Yes, I do. He’s not interested in you or Rebecca. He only wants me. That’s what Viola said.”

“Viola?”

“She visited last night and she says I should learn how to fight from you.”

“Nico, hold on.”

“I have a sword and I promise I’ll be a good student. I’ll practice every day, please.”

“Nico.” Toy Soldier set the jar down. “I don’t know what Viola told you. You don’t have to do this alone.”

“It’s okay, Toy Soldier. Flamingo dude just wants me.”

“That’s not the point.”

“So, you won’t train me.”

Toy Soldier looked at him once. He applied the rest of the lotion on his wounds before he wrapped him up tight.

Nico refused to look down.

“I’ll go with or without your help.”

“I had the feeling.”

“Viola said you were my best shot at survival.”

“She doesn’t remember the first time I fought against Doflamingo.”

“You fought the king?”

“It was a long time ago. I lost.”

“O.K.”

“You must rest, Nico. I will change your bandages again in a few hours.”

“But, you didn’t tell me if you were going too--”

“I will teach you, Rebecca too. It doesn’t seem as if I have much of a choice. Toys should protect children.”

“No one will protect me, but me.”

“Nico.”

“Can we change the topic, please,” Nico interrupted. He dropped back down on the bed with a yawn. He got comfortable on his pillow. “I have a question.”

Toy Soldier hummed encouragingly.

“Do you believe in Gods?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a very dialogue-heavy chapter, but I packed a lot of information in it. Hopefully, it wasn't painful because the next chapter will probably be dialogue-heavy, but we might meet Doffy. TG. No promises though!
> 
> I don't say it on here, but I think I'm going to start. I really do appreciate everyone that takes the time to read my little story and decides to leave kudos, bookmarks, or has decided to add me to their subscriptions. It means a lot. For those of you that have been here since the beginning, thanks for stopping by and continuing on this journey with me!

**Author's Note:**

> EDIT: OCT 13TH, 2020:
> 
> Timeline! 
> 
> Dec 10th, 1922: Bianca is born. (this is not a canon date. I took a wild guess.)
> 
> January 28th, 1924: Nico is born.
> 
> Dec 2006: Nico disappears into the past, the One Piece World. He is ten years old and Bianca is twelve.
> 
> Where I got this badass, ONE PIECE awesome timeline?: thelibraryofohara dot com slash 2018/05/14/one-piece-timeline/
> 
> ?: Donquixote Family rules Dressrosa. They become rulers and the "Era of Slavery" begins for the Tontatta Family.
> 
> 700: Riku I apologizes to the Tontatta: Chapter 261, it is mentioned King Riku I ascended to the throne 800 years ago.
> 
> April 3rd, 1434: Brook is born.
> 
> Oct 23rd, 1483: Donquixote Doflamingo is born.
> 
> March 9th, 1488: Cutty Flam "Franky" is born.
> 
> February 3rd, 1495: Nico Robin is born.
> 
> 1495: Kyros wins a hundred battles at the Colosseum.
> 
> 1500: Sept - The World Govt executes Gol D. Roger.
> 
> 1500: GREAT AGE OF THE PIRATES BEGINS
> 
> Jan 1st, 1502: Gol D. Ace is born in Baterilla, South Blue.
> 
> March 2nd, 1503: Vinsmokes are born. Sanji is born in the Germa Kingdom.
> 
> November 11th, 1503: Zoro is born.
> 
> Jan 28th, 1504: Nico would be born this year if he were from the OP world.
> 
> July 3rd, 1504: Nami is born.
> 
> Kyros wins his 3000th battle. Kyros has been in the Colosseum for nine years.
> 
> April 1st, 1505: Usopp is born.
> 
> May 5th, 1505: Monkey D. Luffy is born.
> 
> 1507: A thirteen-year-old Rob Lucci kills both pirates and hostages. He is shot in the back with cannonballs, leaving a large scar resembling the World Government flag.
> 
> 1507: Rosinante infiltrates the Donquixote Pirates.
> 
> June 23rd, 1508: Charlotte Pudding is born.
> 
> August 4th, 1508: Rebecca is born to Scarlett and Kyros on Dressrosa.
> 
> August 11th, 1508: half-fishman Dellinger is born. The Donquixote Family adopts him.
> 
> December 24th, 1508: Chopper is born.
> 
> 1508: Law joins the Donquixote Pirates. He estimates he has 2 to 3 years left of life.
> 
> 1511: Doflamingo kills Rosinante. Law escapes (this is the time he eats the devil fruit).
> 
> 1514: Doflamingo's Dressrosa operation begins. He raids ships containing heavenly tribute for the Tenryuubito, World Nobles, blackmails the government into making him a Shickibukai, or one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.
> 
> Doflamingo blackmails King Riku. He frames the King as greedy and presents himself and the Donquixote Pirates/Family as the heroes rescuing the Dressrosa citizens from the tyranny of the noble Riku Family.
> 
> Diamante kills Rebecca's mother, Scarlett.
> 
> Kyros attempt to fight Doflamingo, but Doflamingo cuts off his leg. Kyros is turned into the first toy. Because of Sugar's devil fruit power, everyone forgets of his existence, however, he continues to take care of Rebecca even if she isn't aware that he is her father.
> 
> Doflamingo establishes an underground empire by transforming toys into slaves.
> 
> December 1515: Nico lands here on Dressrosa. It has nearly a year since Doflamingo took over Dressrosa. Nico is ten and Rebecca is seven.


End file.
